March Memories

Well, we've been keeping pretty busy with life, 

and I kind of have a lot of catching up to do here. 

Without the photos I would have NO idea what those things might be.

I need to keep that in mind and get back into the habit 

of snapping a photo here and there. 

Most importantly, you have been extremely happy.

You're so full and glad to live in a home with 

two real parents who have things covered 

so you can just do childhood and boyness. 

We are so blessed to have come so far. 

I walked into the living room to find this a few weeks ago.

You and your three dogs, cuddling in a pile.

They sure do love you, and you sure love them.

This was from my Birthday a couple weeks ago.

On Saturday we went out with Uncle Tony and your Dad

to do random acts of kindness all around town. 

We gave gifts to random people,

shared treats and cards to community workers,

brought donations to shelters,

we put un-popped popcorn on red box machines, 

put away carts and gave people candy with uplifting messages,

we filled carts with quarters,

passed out stickers to kids,

and all around kind of freaked people out

(in a good way).

It was SO much fun!

Then, on Sunday morning, we had

a surprise for you.

We took you to the CIRCUS!!!

We have not been to the circus before.

   

It was AWESOME!

Of course my favorite was the elephants.

There were very cool acts that I've never seen anything like before. 

It was a very special Birthday thing to do. 

Of all the ways I was blessed on my birthday weekend, 

this photo shows my greatest gift of all;

the three of us, with twinkling happy eyes, smiling, together.

We've still been making sure that you have LOTS of playdates. 

Especially on the weekends.

We've found a couple of boys your age who have been coming over.

You really enjoy having them here.

We kind of like it ourselves.

We love to hear the sounds of all three of you

playing together around the house.

You have been tackling through second grade all too well.

Part of me wants to boost things up to offer 

some challenges and keep you from boredom, 

but I feel like we are enjoying the ease far to much

for me to tamper with the flow of things.

As it is, you are already in third grade courses and curriculum 

for some subjects because you work through things so quickly.  

You are often commenting that your lessons are "for babies". 

I just encourage you to be grateful that it comes easy to you

and work on your penmanship or some other part that you

can build your skills in as you zoom through. :)

I've been having you do a little daily planning for yourself.

You were getting upset that you didn't feel like

you had a life because of school. 

I tried to explain to you that you have way more 

time and freedom than a lot of kids have,

and you just need to take responsibility for 

what you do in your spare time.

This was, as expected, pretty ineffective. 

So, I had you start writing out a daily idea

of the kinds of things you needed to do,

wanted to do, and would like to do.

This helped A LOT. 

You started to think of what you wanted with your time.

You started to recognize that it was up to you

to make sure you did those things.

I love your lists and pages. 

SO adorable, the things you write in your book. 

You are a pancake-aholic. 

There's nothing more to say.

You just want pancakes every single day.

:)

I took a picture of this meticulous little spread 

you created when you decided to do some crafting 

one afternoon. Very interesting.

You lost another tooth, and you got a claymation set 

from the "Daddy fairy" as we lovingly refer to your parents 

putting gifts on your bed in exchange for your sweet little baby teeth.

You are a pretty amazing sculptor, and I'm seriously

considering putting you in classes.

I did NONE of these characters. 

You did them all on your own. 

The dog is quite impressive!

We have been reading and watching the 

Little House on the Prairie series

as a family almost every weeknight after dinner.

We are ALL smitten. 

(note: we don't let you watch every episode. we look them up ahead of time

online, and skip the ones that are not appropriate for your age.)

What's left? You are over the cat obsession. 

You still LOVE cats, but you don't act like one anymore, ever,

and you are equally interested in dogs. 

Your own in particular.

You are super into swords, knives, guns and bows. 

That is all you ever buy with your allowance

You have TONS of them. 

I can't even count anymore. 

Seriously.

You are very kind. VERY.

You still like quiet, laid back, kind kids, but tolerate 

the obnoxious bossy ones as if they just don't get it

and it's not worth the drama of anyone making a big deal out of it.

You are pretty much over video games and TV. 

The only video game you ever ask to play is the Sims.

Which I personally think is AWESOME of you

and let you play whenever you ask. 

I think that game is excellent for you in SO many ways.

In your spare time, you play with your play mobiles, 

play outside with the dogs, and read, read, READ.

You read like crazy. You love it. 

Right now you are digging your way through

the 40+ chapter books of Geronimo Stilton.

You can't get enough. 

And your Dad and I can't get enough of YOU! :)